An exemplary electronic information display system provides an integrated pricing and advertising system for displaying up-to-date pricing information as well as advertising information on remote display terminals throughout a retail store as described and disclosed in patent application Ser. No. 07/753,004, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 07/352,553, now abandoned. Generally, such a system has a store platform computer which provides a data base for pricing and advertising information within each store. A plurality of battery powered electronic information display terminals, which communicate with the store platform computer via an optical link, are mounted throughout the store at various merchandising locations. The optical link is implemented by an IR transceiver (or a grid of IR transceivers) which is electrically connected to the store platform computer and by an IR transceiver in each of the remote display terminals.
Two important requirements for electronic display terminals are low price and long battery life. Typically, the battery life must be four to five years. In order to make an inexpensive battery last for four to five years, the average current drain over the life of the battery must not exceed about 15 microamps. Considering that an infrared receiver may consume up to 3 mA if it continually remains activated over a five year period, measures must be taken to reduce the power consumption of the receiver.